Conditioning for the young athlete

The majority of kids will have a good time playing sports, especially when the prepare for the activity. Kids should acquire skills, train their bodies, and learn to protect themselves so they are less at risk for injury. This is important for every sport.

Young athletes need to learn the skills for their sport and also how to warm up, stretch, strength train, and develop power, agility, toughness and explosiveness.

Conditioning, however, should also be a big part of their athletic career. Warming up, stretching, and developing power, agility, toughness, and explosiveness. Unlike strength training and weight lifting, conditioning is all about body movements that increase athletic skill and physical fitness and decrease the chance of injury. The types of exercises may be different depending on the fitness goals.

To improve athletic performance, the athlete uses targeted, specific movement to mimic the moves used on the court of field. A basketball player can practice shooting baskets repeatedly to help with sports conditioning. However, aerobic exercises – an important part of any general athletic program – increases cardiovascular endurance and lung capacity.

Usually the aerobic part of the training includes low-intensity, long-duration exercises such as running or cycling. The heart rate should be increased and sustained for a time period that challenges the heart and lungs so they get stronger.

There is also anaerobic exercises for sports that require intense, sudden burst of speed and strength. Weigh training and sprinting are anaerobic exercises. One of the main goals of a conditioning program is to increase the amount of stress that the body can handle before it gets injured. Therefore, conditioning programs play an important role in preventing injury.

A propper warm-up for sports should increase the blood flow to the working muscles, which will in turn lead to a decrease in muscle stiffness and less risk of injury. The warm-up will also improve performance and add to the athletes’ preparation mentally before practice or a game.

Th muscle temperature will rise, and, therefore, speed and strength are improved. Muscle elasticity is improved with the increase in body temperature. The blood vessels dilate, and resistance to blood flow decreases. A goo way to warm up cold muscles and get the circulation going is about ten minutes of light running or cycling before practice.